March 2018

Shop At Wilson Farm

Bowman’s Shop at Wilson Farm Day is on Wednesday, March 14th, so mark your calendars! Shop anytime during business hours (9:00 am – 7:00 pm) and 20% of your pre-tax spending will be donated back to Bowman. Just remember to bring in a Bowman Shop at Wilson Farm day flyer and present it at the register. We will also be sending an emailable version that can be displayed on your smart phone through the room parents. Tell your friends, neighbors and other community members to shop at Wilson’s on March 14th for Bowman!

Last Family Math Night At Bowman

Mark your calendars for the last Family Math Night! We have had 2 fun-filled Math Nights in January and February.

Family Math Nights are a great way for parents and students of all ability levels to experience the fun of math together. We’ll have games, puzzles, brainteasers, and lots of hands-on activities. Challenge your student to a logic game, build a symmetrical pattern, or investigate the volume of 3-D shapes. It’s your choice at Family Math Night! Plan to attend an upcoming Family Math Night with your student this winter.

Our last one is for Grades K-1 on Wednesday, March 21st from 6:30–8:00pm in the Bowman cafeteria. This Math Night will be conducted in 2 sessions. Sign up at https://goo.gl/TTGRjv to reserve your spot. Space is limited.

Look for more grade level specific details on the Bowman PTA website, listserv, and through your room parents in the new year. Questions? Contact familymathnights@bowmanpta.org.

Bowman Variety Show

Clarke Auditorium, March 23rd, 7:00-8:30

You will have 90 seconds to show your friends and classmates your amazing talent. Registration will be open from February 23rd. Visit the Bowman PTA homepage http://bowmanpta.org to sign up. The show can only feature 40 acts, so sign up early to avoid disappointment.

You Shop, Bowman Wins

Your support for Bowman while shopping with AmazonSmile has resulted in a donation of $109.46 to Bowman PTA for the last quarter of 2017! Thank you!

Science Fair

Thank you to all the Bowman student scientists for making this year’s Science Fair an evening full of explanations and demonstrations! Your curiosity and enthusiasm were evident in all the projects, and it was wonderful to see the students’ interest in and support of each other’s work. Also, a special thank you to the Visiting Scientists for sharing their love of science with the students! The PTA thanks Karla Nash, Roshni Jagadeesan and Mairin Schreiber for organizing and running another successful Science Fair.

Behind The Scenes – Our Bowman Volunteers

The Bowman PTA (and all of the PTA-run community and enrichment events) is run entirely by volunteers. We are so fortunate to have so many terrific volunteers and we’re excited to introduce a couple of them to you each month.

I volunteer with the Bowman PTA because I have great admiration for all the things that the PTA does to enhance the quality of learning experience for our children during their formative years. Working on the Broadside is my way of giving back to the Bowman community and staying engaged with my child’s activities at school. The cherry on the cake being, I can do this from the comfort of my home without having to cut back on my work schedule and other commitments. Volunteering does not get any more meaningful or easier than this! My heartfelt gratitude for the opportunity to make a small difference.

Volunteering offers a terrific opportunity to help benefit our school and their mission to educate our local community’s children. I want my daughter Sofia to have wonderful childhood memories. That is why I love being a room parent/class treasurer, volunteering in the library and helping coordinate and run the Bowman Movie Night events. The PTA not only offers the chance to be involved and make new connections, but has helped make many improvements at Bowman.

Class Basket Raffle Coming This Spring

We know you’ve been waiting, and it’s almost here! Class baskets will be arriving at Bowman the morning of Thursday, March 29 and will be on display for you to see through Friday, April 6. That night, they will be auctioned off in the gym during Disco Bingo (you do not need to be present to win). Each class is putting together a creative basket to be raffled off and we can’t wait to see this year’s display! We will be selling raffle tickets for $1 each. You can buy tickets through the order form that will go home with your child, at the start of Bingo Night, and even in rolling carpool line. We will be outside both before and after school that week with tickets in hand, so have your cash and/or checks ready and we’ll come right to your window to give you your tickets. You can purchase as many tickets as you wish, but don’t forget to write your name and telephone number on each ticket. Then drop the tickets into the bin next to the basket you would like to win!

Between April 2nd -April 6th, you can drop in your raffle tickets during the following hours: 8:15-8:45am and 3:15-3:45pm (12:15-3:30pm on Thursday) and during the start of Bingo Night. All proceeds from ticket sales benefit the PTA. If you have any questions please email: classbasketraffle@bowmanpta.org.

Big Backyard Seeking Volunteers

Big Back yard is a highlight for many students at Bowman. For parents who have volunteered at the walks this year, thank you! If you have never led a Big Back Yard walk, consider volunteering for a Winter or Spring walk. You don’t have to be a scientist to volunteer. We train you for what you need to know and to help you to support our kids to be curious and interested in the natural world around us.

If you just love the Big Back Yard program, consider joining the Big Back Yard coordinator group. We are looking for 1-2 volunteers to join us to help with the Spring walks and for next year. We split up the work to make it a very reasonable way to volunteer and you can choose how you want to participate–jobs you can do anytime and anywhere like scheduling with the teachers or things that happen during the school day like training other parents to lead the walks.

Box Tops For Education Update

Final numbers are in for the Jan 2017 Box Tops classroom collection competition, and the winner is… Ms Archibald’s Class with 190 Box Tops! Congratulations – the Box Top BOT, the Bowman Box Top mascot, will spend the month of February in Ms. Archibald’s classroom. Mrs. Moloney’s class came in second with 101 and Ms. Sawka’s class collected 91 for third place. Thank you all for clipping those Box Tops and keep up the great work!

As a reminder, you can find the Box Tops logos on participating products such as Annie’s Organic snacks, General Mills cereals (like Cheerios), Green Giant vegetables, Old El Paso products, Ziploc bags, Huggies diapers & pull ups, Hefty trash bags, Pillsbury rolls and many more. You can send your Box Tops into the classroom in a plastic bag, envelope or on a collection sheet once or twice a month. A variety of fun collection sheets can be found here: https://www.boxtops4education.com/about/collection-sheets

Household Composting Fundraiser

Looking for a way to recycle more of your waste AND help out your school? Mention Bowman School in the referral section when you sign up for curbside pick-up from Black Earth Compost (http://www.blackearthcompost.com/lexington) – you will receive $10 off of your first bill and the Bowman PTA will receive a $10 donation!

Currently the program costs $99 for a 6-month period. Once 300 families in Lexington/Arlington combined enroll, the price will drop to $49.99 every 6 months. You have the choice on the sign-up form to begin service after the price drops – you won’t be charged until that happens, but your household will immediately be counted toward the threshold to have the price drop.

Trash in Lexington is incinerated, causing air pollution and toxic byproducts. Composting recycles nutrients back to the soil for use by local farmers and gardeners, and ultimately into the produce you eat. And customers get free compost in the spring! Help the environment and Bowman today! Questions? Email Cindy Arens at compost@bowmanpta.org.

Math Team News

The 3rd grade before school math team at Bowman recently participated in the first Continental Math League competition of the year, and the 4th and 5th grade teams participated in the third Continental Math League competition of the year. There are 2 levels of competitions of the 4th and 5th grades, and the groups from Bowman are registered with the Pythagorean level, the higher of the two levels. Students had to solve 6 problems in 30 minutes. Problems were designed to test students’ reading comprehension, problem solving skills, and the ability to set up and solve complex and challenging problems.

3rd grade: There were 287 teams from around the United States, 28 of them from New England. The median score for the country was 26/36. The Bowman 3rd grade team had 35/36 points, among the top 5% teams in the country and #1 in New England.

4th grade: There were 148 teams from around the United States, 7 of them from New England. The median score for the country for the third test was 27/36. The Bowman 4th grade team had 36/36 points for the third test and 96/108 for the three tests combined, among top 7.5% of teams in the country. 5th grade: There were 161 teams from around the United States, 13 of them from New England. The median score for the country for the third test was 32/36. The Bowman 5th grade team had 36/36 points for the third test and 108/108 for the three tests combined, among top 5 teams in the country.

Congratulations to everybody on the excellent performance. Every member of each team worked hard, and can take pride in the accomplishment. The fourth competition for the 4th and 5th grade teams and the second competition for the 3rd grade team are in mid February.

Reminders

April Submissions
Broadside submissions should be sent to Suman Murali at broadside@bowmanpta.org. Deadline for April issue is March 15th.

Traffic Tip
Spring is in the air! Be mindful of children crossing at the crosswalks.

Join The PTA!
Your support makes important events possible and our community stronger.

Even if you don’t have time to take part in one of our committees, your membership is equally important and goes towards funding grants for teachers, curriculum enrichment for every grade, community building activities and programs, and more!! Visit our membership page to learn how to join.